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Overview
Coopers make barrels, buckets and related wooden containers from shaped staves, heads and hoops. The work combines wood selection, moisture control, cutting, bending, charring, sanding and finishing so the vessel holds its contents.
In job descriptions, look for wooden barrel manufacture, staves, barrel heads, hoops, wood moisture, woodworking tools, surface finishing, quality checks, barrel maintenance and labelling.
Explore this occupation
Open in Job ExplorerWhat the work can involve
Cooper work is a precise woodcraft role around staves, heads, hoops and the way a barrel seals. The work includes selecting wood, adjusting cuts, bending staves, charring, sanding and finishing barrels for storage or use.
Skills and specializations
Useful depth comes from wooden barrel manufacture, wood types, wood moisture, woodworking tools, barrel heads, surface finishing and quality checks. Some roles also include repairs, labelling, supplies or customer quotation work.
Salary context
Pay expectations are shaped by craft precision, barrel type, repair versus new production, finishing quality, customer contact, small-batch responsibility and whether the cooper also maintains or designs containers.
Career paths
Development can move toward master cooper work, barrel repair, quality control, workshop leadership, product design, commissioned craft production or specialist work for beverage storage.
Good to know
Check the wood species, barrel size, production volume, charring method, finishing steps and whether the job includes maintenance of existing barrels. Good adverts make the craft process visible.
Editorial note
This guide is editorial career context, not official labour-market statistics or role-specific pay data.
Map overview
Click the map to search for cooper jobs.
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O*NET relationships
See occupations connected to this ESCO occupation in the official O*NET–ESCO mapping. The relationship type comes from the source and is not a ranking or recommendation.
O*NET relationships: 1
Woodworkers, All Other
51-7099.00
O*NET occupation is broader
The O*NET occupation covers a broader field of work than this ESCO occupation.
Open in O*NETSource and method
These relationships come from the official European Commission O*NET–ESCO crosswalk.
Relationship direction: O*NET occupation to ESCO occupation.
Several O*NET occupations can point to the same ESCO occupation, and one O*NET occupation can point to several ESCO occupations.
AltoTrail preserves the source relationship type. The order is technical and does not show which occupation is best, most relevant or recommended.
AltoTrail validates and presents the source relationships without adding ranking or recommendation semantics.
Alternative labels
Occupation group
Cabinet-makers and related workers (7522)
Source facts
| ESCO URI | http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/501a3798-08bf-4475-88d2-0e8c9befb101 |
|---|---|
| ESCO code | 7522.3 |
| ISCO group | 7522 |
| Concept type | Occupation |